Raila's Longevity, Clarity of Thought Explained

By Auscar Odhiambo Wambiya

From the works written by Raila Amollo Odinga, Kenya’s former Prime Minister and a leading African Union Commission candidate, there is a great body of evidence that Raila reads widely, voraciously and omnivorously. This is also true in other works written by others about the man. Raila’s longevity, clarity of thought and articulation of issues for the past few decades leading to his current bid can be attributed to some of these reading habits. Here are excerpts. In his autobiography “Flames of Freedom,” Raila narrates how the Prison chaplains in the different prisons he was detained in from time to time in the 80s, chose relevant Biblical scriptures to share with the prisoners and how they would have conversations about spiritual matters. Raila confesses to finding it very refreshing and achieving a sense of renewal from these weekly contacts with the chaplain. He says he had a bible for reference purposes. Apparently, the prison authorities were obliged to give one to any prisoner who asked, and prisoners would refuse to eat if they were not given their bible, Raila says.

Earlier in his detention stints, Raila’s personal items, including his bookshelves, had arrived at Kamiti a couple of days after his arrival there but for some time he had been too ill to do any reading. He confesses to have begun reading again after a while. Generally, the prisoners would play games for about an hour after breakfast, after exercising first thing, then Raila would read for a while, then have lunch and relax for half an hour, then get up again and play some more games, before reading some more until it was time to shower – with a bucket of water that had been left standing in the sun to warm – and then it was time for supper. Raila also says in his autobiography that boredom was always a serious problem in prison, but the reading helped a lot, as did conversation with askaris while playing games.

Detention offered plenty of time to fill with reading, reflection and analysis, Raila says on page 273. He was able to explore many philosophical and scientific theories, comparing and contrasting, for example, the Marxist theory of materialism and the Darwinian theory of evolution. ?Eventually, while at Kamiti Prison again, in mid-1980s, Raila was also allowed to borrow books from the prison library, which was better stocked than the one at Shimo La Tewa. It was the main beneficiary of donations from outside the country and there was a wider variety of reading matter.

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While still in Uganda as a refugee, The United Nations High Commission for Refugees Offices in Geneva, Switzerland asked Raila where he would like to go for exile, and he gave them several options—Germany, Norway, the UK and the USA in that order. The applications were made and Raila sat out the wait for responses, as usual making full use of the library of his host, Somalian Ahmed Said Farrah, which was well-stocked. In the early 90’s in one of his international travels, Kenya’s Attorney General Amos Wako arrived in London on a tour and the authorities raised with him the matter of Raila’s status in Kenya. Eventually, it was agreed that Raila would in due course get a one-way travel document home, with assurances that nothing would happen to him after his return. It was not clear at that point how long Raila would stay in Norway. He spent a lot of time reading in the excellent Norad library, which received newspapers from Kenya, even if a day late.

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Raila also narrates that, during their days as young children, Oburu Odinga and himself would sit on the verandah outside and listen, sometimes far into the night as Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and other leaders, including Mzee Martin Odera, would talk at length about what the white man was doing and what the black man should do. That was when Raila began to be aware of political issues at about age 10. He also loved the radio and listened in at every opportunity. He had an insatiable appetite for news.

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There were about 200 students in the German School where Raila undertook his college studies. The Herder Institute student body was divided into classes of 20. Once Raila and other international students were more fluent in German, they also studied German literature and European history, reading such great masters as Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe and Bertolt Brecht.

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Raila’s first few months in Magdeburg Otto-von-Guericke University to study Mechanical Engineering were challenging but comfortable and pleasant. They allowed him to get to know German people better, their psyche, their culture and their history, and he soon found himself integrated into German society. All lectures and seminars were in German but by now he was fluent, having passed all his German language exams with distinction and having studied German classical literature. Meanwhile, he was studying hard and continued to find learning very exciting.

?“We would often go to the library of the University of Cairo,” – Raila Amollo Odinga says of his brief stay in Egypt in 1962 on transit for further studies in Germany. “Our ship had a library and we students often went there,” – Raila says of his trip to Germany for Studies. ?

About six months after his first real friendship with a real girlfriend faded, Raila says he was at a local carnival when he met Margita, a teacher at a school in Arendsee, a town north-west of Magdeburg. They became friendly and she used to come to see Raila in Magdeburg, Germany, while he also visited her in Arendsee, a pretty holiday resort on the shores of an island sea. Raila stayed with her several times and would take his books to study while she was working.” In the next episode of “The Reading Habits of The World’s Most Powerful”, we explore Raila’s reading habits further.

The Writer is The Author of “The Relationship Between Books and Power,” a book that shows that the world’s most powerful people have specific reading habits. Reach him through; [email protected]